Cherie James

Cherie James began her screen career in the late 1980s, working with her dad on The Billy T James Show. In 1997 she presented Billy T James - A Daughter's Story, a documentary about her legendary entertainer father. After studying performing arts at Unitec in Auckland, she got a small role on drama series Mercy Peak. A guest part on Māori supernatural series Mataku earned her a Best Actress nomination at the 2003 NZ TV Awards. In 2006 she was nominated at the Air NZ Screen Awards, after playing a bitter family matriarch in TV series The Market. In the same period she was a mysterious Māori tattooist in short film Point Annihilation.   

Dad seems to enjoy the show business ... it makes me happy to see him so happy. Cherie James as a teenager, talking about her dad Billy T James, in a 1986 Close Up report